Oh, caramel. My old enemy. Once again, I have been defeated. Fear not, I have just included dulce de leche in its place in this recipe, but nothing makes me feel more frustrated than seeing a beautiful golden brown caramel CRYSTALLIZE into little grainy clusters. Caramel is evil, and I feel like it consciously and malignantly wants me to fail. Oh well, I suppose it is good to have things to work on, but I will continue to think about all of the ways I could destroy all of my recipes that include caramel. It’s cathartic. Anyway, these Irish Whisky Cupcakes were the idea of my dear friend Jacob, and they were pretty durn good if I do say so myself, especially when I replaced the grainy caramel with smooth dulce de leche. Tender whiskey sponge filled with espresso-spiked dulce de leche, and topped with a luscious coffee buttercream makes for boozy deliciousness.
Baking Blunders. Oops.
Not interested in my life because you’re just here from Pinterest looking for a cupcake recipe? We’ve all been there. Just skip to the next heading.
Last week, I did one of the dumber things I’ve done this year. I had an order that I was really excited for, a cat unicorn (caticorn) cake! In pink! I’ve honestly been preparing my whole life for this order, and I was pumped. I ordered a little unicorn horn on amazon, got busy with my food coloring, and produced this:
Cute, right? Her name is Frances, she is a strawberry cake filled with chocolate ganache, and she is a magical unicorn from an enchanted forest full of cats.
Only problem: the cake was actually supposed to be for JULY 9th, not JUNE 9th. This is what comes of switching from a paper planner to stupid google calendar. Curse you, technology.
I sent an email to the people that ordered this cake letting them know it was ready to be picked up, suddenly realized what I had done and had to confess that I am an idiot, I made their cake a month too soon, and to please ignore my previous email while I went to crawl into a hole in the ground in humiliation.
Some Silver Linings…
Looking on the bright side, I got to practice this cake and I know it’ll be prettier for the actual order after giving it a practice round. I also got to take my strawberry chocolate cake into work. I’m starting a new job, so it was nice to be able to bring something to my new coworkers. And, I got to eat some of it, which I usually don’t get to do. Lastly, this story is probably amusing for people that didn’t spend six hours of their life piping swirls on a unicorn cake, so that’s good I guess. The blogosphere loves to laugh at me.
Also, I am just now realizing that I probably didn’t need to put sprinkles on the cake before piping the swirls. Because the swirls covered them up. Facepalm.
Whatever. Back to business.
Irish Coffee Cupcakes: the elements.
This is my eleventh Boozy Bake, and I was having a little trouble getting inspired, so I took to facebook for some ideas. Friends and family, you all came through, and I am looking forward to experimenting with some of your favorite cocktails in the future. However, I decided to go with my friend Jake’s suggestion, and worked up these Irish coffee cupcakes.
An Irish Coffee is basically just….coffee with whiskey, lol. However, whiskey and coffee are both delicious flavor profiles, Matt had some Irish whiskey hanging around the house, and so it seemed like an easy cupcake choice.
I started with a basic vanilla cupcake recipe, but I dumped in a HEAVY dose of Jamison whiskey. Don’t be afraid of the amount, the alcohol cooks off, leaving a subtle whiskey flavor in the baked sponge. To amp that up a little more, I am going to advise brushing the finished cakes with a little whiskey. This does double duty, giving them more flavor and keeping them moist.
Fun with fillings and frosting! (And alliteration.) The stuff that makes these Irish Coffee Cupcakes shine.
I tried really hard to make a homemade caramel filling, but alas, I failed. It looked perfect when I poured it out of the pan, but when I went back to check it, it had become grainy. I briefly considered trying another batch, and then gave up and went to the pantry instead. As always, dulce de leche is the perfect canned alternative to homemade caramel, and it will never betray you by crystalizing or burning or turning grainy or…. any of the other terrible things that can happen when you make caramel from scratch.
I just heated up a can of dulce de leche and mixed in a little espresso, and I had a delicious coffee caramel to put in the center of these little guys.
Also, this gave me an excellent excuse to use my cupcake corer, my favorite kitchen gadget.
I finished off these Irish Coffee Cupcakes with the best part, the coffee buttercream. This stuff was really good, you guys. I ate so much of it as I was piping the cupcakes that I almost didn’t have enough. It was like….a fancy starbucks drink, but in frosting form.
To get a powerful coffee flavor, I used some instant espresso powder, which is an excellent ingredient to have on hand in your pantry. You just mix it with a little hot water and you are good to go. I’ve been known to include it in my chocolate cakes too. It doesn’t make chocolate taste like coffee, it just makes it taste more like….chocolate? I don’t know, it’s some kind of science magic.
I also included a little vanilla, salt, and whiskey in the buttercream. Gotta have that balance.
More coffee flavored bakes…
If coffee flavor is your thing, I highly recommend you check out my Chocolate and Orange Tiramisu Cake while you’re here. I’ve also got a really nice Baileys Mudslide Cupcake with a FIRE Baileys Pastry Cream that you NEED to bake immediately.
This cupcake definitely calls to mind an Irish Coffee, and it is perfect for enjoying after dinner with a well-spiked cup of joe.
Do you have a favorite cocktail that you would like to see turned into a boozy bake? Let me know in the comments and I will see what I can do!
Easy Irish Whiskey Cupcakes!
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy12
Cupcakes30
minutes18
minutes300
kcalIngredients
- For the cupcakes:
1.5 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1/3 cup whiskey + more for brushing
1 can dulce de leche
2 T espresso powder
1/4 cup hot milk
- For the coffee buttercream:
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1 T espresso powder
1/8 cup hot water
pinch of salt
2 T whiskey
1 t vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a cupcake tin with liners and cooking spray.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the brown sugar, sugar, salt, and butter together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the bowl occasionally. Whisk together the baking powder and flour in a separate bowl. Add half of this to the butter mixture with the buttermilk, mix until just combined. Add the remaining flour mixture, vanilla, and whiskey, mix until just combined. Spoon into the cupcake liners, filling 3/4 full. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly, and brush liberally with whiskey. Chill completely, and core with a cupcake corer, a circle cutter, or a knife.
- Combine the hot milk and espresso powder, whisk to dissolve the espresso.
- In a small saucepan, heat up your dulce de leche. When it thins out a little, add the espresso mixture. Whisk to combine. Set aside to cool a little. Spoon into the cored-out cupcakes, and top with the removed cores if desired. (You can also just eat the cores as a baker’s treat.)
- Make your buttercream. Mix the espresso and hot water in a very small bowl, and set aside to cool completely. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until it is light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl frequently, about five minutes. Add the vanilla, salt, and half the powdered sugar, and beat until well-combined, about three minutes. Add the espresso mixture, the remaining sugar, and the whiskey. Adjust the consistency with more whiskey or more sugar as necessary. Beat until light and fluffy, about another five minutes.
- Top the cupcakes with buttercream. You can pipe it on or smear it on with a knife! Enjoy!
